Sunday, September 18, 2011

How much of the world's electricity supply is generated from wind?

Worldwide wind power generation exceeded 250 billion kilowatthours in 2009, which is equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of over 22 million average households in the United States. Wind generation increased by about 20% from 2008 to 2009, and has more than tripled since 2004. This growth is mostly due to capacity increases in the United States, China, India, and Western Europe. Despite this growth, the world still generated only 1% of its total electricity from wind power in 2009.

The United States Generated the Most Wind Electricity in 2009

Maintaining its position for two years in a row, the United States led all other countries in wind power generation in 2009. The remaining top-ten wind power generators, listed in descending order, were Germany, Spain, China, India, the United Kingdom, France, Portugal, Denmark, and Italy. Although about 35 countries reported significant wind power generation in 2009, these top-ten countries accounted for more than 85% of all wind generation worldwide. Wind generation in China continues to grow rapidly. Wind generation growth in the country increased by an average of 80% each year since 2004 and doubled from 2008 to 2009.

Denmark Generates the Highest Percentage of its Electricity Supply from Wind

Nearly 20% of Denmark's electricity generation came from wind in 2009. The next highest levels of wind penetration are found in Portugal at 16%, Spain at 13%, Ireland at 11%, and Germany at 7%. No other country surpassed 5% penetration, including the United States, which generated almost 2% of its electricity from wind in 2009.

Less than 2% of Global Wind Capacity is Offshore

According to the World and European Wind Energy Associations, installed global wind capacity reached 197,000 megawatts by the end of 2010, with just over 3,000 MW of that total located offshore. Even though offshore development lags behind onshore, generally due to higher costs and technology constraints, over 1,000 MW were built in 2010. Western Europe is home to nearly all existing offshore capacity; Japan and China have started to add offshore wind farms of their own. As of June 2011, there were no operating offshore wind farms in the United States, although the Department of the Interior approved construction plans for the 420-megawatt Cape Wind project off the Massachusetts coast in April 2011.

Wind Power Generation is Expected to Continue Growing

Over the lifetime of the plant, electricity from wind power generally costs more than electricity from power plants burning fossil fuels.1 However, wind power is expected to continue to grow worldwide because of favorable government policies. Multiple types of government support exist, including a production tax credit and State renewable electricity portfolio standards in the United States, a feed-in tariff in Germany, and wind capacity targets in China.